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Military heroes

Valor binds honored veterans

View SlideshowRequest to buy this photoAlex Holt | DISPATCH PHOTOSLt. j.g. Dan A. Carmichael Jr. of Bexley receives his Ohio Military Hall of Fame medal 69 years after his combat actions during the Battle of the Philippine Sea were deemed worth of a Silver Star. Carmichael, 94, was a fighter pilot operating off the carrier USS Hornet.

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The oldest person inducted into the Ohio Military Hall of Fame yesterday was Daniel A.
Carmichael Jr. of Bexley. He is 94.

He qualified for the hall because of what he did on June 11 and on June 19 in 1944, flying over
Guam and the Philippine Sea.

The youngest inductee was Robert K. Debolt III of Zanesville. He is 32. He qualified because of
what he did on Sept. 4, 2008, in Kandahar, Afghanistan.

There were 64 years between their acts of valor. But Carmichael and Debolt were only one seat
apart on the makeshift stage at the Statehouse Atrium.

It served as a reminder, as has every Hall of Fame induction ceremony since 2000, that combat
heroism isn’t confined to one generation or one war. Even if Debolt, just like the other inductees,
wanted to talk about what everyone else had done.

“Some of these older guys did crazy stuff,” he said. “What I did is low-level compared to
that."

Believe that if you want. This is what happened on Sept. 2, 2008, according to his Silver Star
citation:

Debolt was an Army infantry rifleman when the vehicle that he was riding in hit a roadside bomb.
Debolt caught fire and was burned over 70 percent of his body.

He managed to leave the vehicle and extinguish himself. But his team members were still inside
the burning wreckage. He went back and helped pull them out and extinguish their clothes. He saved
at least two people.

“Pvt. Debolt fought through his own blinding pain, refusing to leave his teammates until he
himself was nearly incapacitated from his own wounds and shock,” the citation reads.

He was in the hospital for five months. After he healed, he went back to Afghanistan. He finally
left the Army in 2011.

And this is what Carmichael did in 1944, according to his Silver Star citation:

A Navy pilot attached to the USS Hornet, he was circling the position of a downed pilot when his
plane was attacked. He engaged and shot down two enemy fighters.

A week later, Carmichael was dispatched to intercept enemy planes threatening the fleet during
the Battle of the Philippine Sea. He destroyed a fighter and two torpedo bombers.

“It is nice to receive any sort of recognition at my age,” he said yesterday.

Debolt, Carmichael and 18 others were inducted into the Ohio hall. Current service members and
veterans qualify by receiving a U.S. military medal for valor. The medals must recognize specific
acts as opposed to meritorious service over an extended period.

There are now 238 members, alive and dead. The others inducted yesterday were: